by Fr. Peter Carota

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Traditional Popes vs New Popes

With great trepidation we await a new pope. We need to continue to pray for a holy, traditional, courageous and manly pope. St. Peter Help Us. Holy Ghost we trust in You.

When I was young I belonged to the most liberal parish possible. I did not know any better. Most catholics do not know any better about the difference between the church beforeVaticanII and what they practice now. It is the grace of God working through holy traditional catholics who will open the eyes of truth to the “new church” catholics.

Humbly reading the Bible opens the soul to traditional morals. But the devil works by telling people the Bible is a myth and conditioned by the cultural beliefs in which it was written. Nevertheless reading the Holy Word of God in a childlike way, the Holy Ghost will inspire you and convict you that God is serious about what is right and wrong. It will very much encourage your faith.

When one is young, one tends to be arrogant and proud. One thinks they know it all and that what is new is always better. So when Pope John XXIII opened the window of the church to what was new worldly way of thinking,(now it is old way of thinking) most young people were very happy. It is always easier to make rules easier than to make rules stricter. We take as an example going to bed early and getting up early. Now all of a sudden we are told that the world’s new way of getting enough rest is going to bed when you want and sleeping in till late. Everyone will be happy about this new rule. This also has to do with healthy food and junk food. Before eating healthily meant you had to eat a lot of whole grains and vegetables and little sweets. Now the world says that the best way to be healthy is to eat fast foods and everything that is sweet. Most people are obesely happy with the new way of eating. Obviously, though everyone loves the junk food and sleeping in to any hour of the day, there will eventually be detrimental consequences. Nevertheless most catholics loved the revolution in the church brought about by Vatican II. But now we traditionalist are seeing the detrimental consequences. The leaving of the catholic faith by almost all of our family. The closing of so many churches. The sex abuse by priest and bishops. Very few vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Mostly old priests and nuns everywhere you go. Catholic politicians promoting abortion and homosexual marriages. Catholic schools closing down or teaching against catholic dogma. Huge break down of marriage and the family.

In spite of all this empirical evidence, most liberal catholics think the solution is to make the church better is by becoming even more revolutionary. Women priest, divorce, birth control, Holy Communion for everyone in spite of them being in the state of mortal sin, and letting homosexuals get married.

There have always been problems in the church, but with Pope John XXIII and Vatican II opening up the church to the world’s way of thinking, it has only gotten worse. Then Pope Paul VI revolutionized the liturgy by his New Mass or Novus Ordo. For the first time in catholic church history we had a new mass that had not been organically developed. He also put together a commission to see whether birth control was morally acceptable. I personally new the Crowleys who were on that commission. Opening up the discussion gave credibility to revolution. And soon after many theologians taught that there was nothing wrong with birth control. When he eventually came out with Humanae Vitae condemning birth control, it was too late. The cat was already out of the bag.

Then Pope John Paul II came and tried to teach orthodox teachings on catholic morality. Any good catholic was happy he was standing the ground on marriage, abortion, birth control and sexual morality. But under his rule, he failed do enough to stop the sex abuse and liturgical abuse. He traveled around and helped a lot of young people to stay catholic. But the church was in crisis and he never corrected it.

So now that Pope Benedict has abdicated, we look at his papacy too. Why didn’t he put an end to all the liturgical abuses and stop heretical teaching in the hierarchy? I understand that the church is huge and difficult to change. But still we are responsible to keep the Bark of Peter on track.

Christopher Ferrara wrote an interesting theory on why Pope Benedict is abdicating. His theory is that the pope did not want to have anything to do with the canonization of Pope John Paul II and beatification of Pope Paul VI. His conscience would not permit it and his only option was to abdicate before it took place. I know all this is very hard to understand when you love the popes. You are trying to be a good catholic and that means loving the pope. But under the reigns of the popes since Pope Pius XII, the church has gone from bad to worse. We have to ask why. Yes the culture, yes the times, yes the media, but still the popes have to answer for it too. Just like the pastor who allows his parish to get worse morally, we all have to take responsibility for how we govern God’s Church.

We too are responsible. All of you wonderful traditional catholics who are ostracized and abused. you are helping at this time of history in the church. You are praying. You are talking. You are blogging. You are teaching your children their faith. You are having children. You are an important part of the Mystical Body of Christ. God and Mary are listening to our prayers. God is powerful and thank God we are on His side. Isn’t it wonderful to be traditional catholic.